If you were a traveler, an illegal immigrant or a “South Park” resident, your world was turned upside down in the past week. A volcano wreaked havoc on travelers, Arizona wreaked havoc on illegal immigrants and a little-known Muslim group wreaked havoc on “South Park.” Good for us, though, as all those made for great headlines that you, dear readers, pushed to the very top of our weekly rankings chart.

We begin in Arizona, the desert with the great big hole in it. The state, which the U.S. census says is 86.5 percent white, voted 17-11 in favor of a bill that requires police to determine if people are in the U.S. illegally. It raised a brouhaha (I’ve waited weeks to use that word) because some folks think it will lead to racial profiling. “I believe handcuffs are a wonderful tool when they’re on the right people,” said Russell Pearce, the Republican state senator who wrote the bill. Nice.